Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1887-05-06
THE A, 7. & S. F.
The Surveyors of the Rock Island
Line at Muscatine.
The Proposed Eastern and Southwest
ern Lines Of a Road in Which the City
Is Deeply Interested--The Time for
Work.

Engineer Carpenter and his surveyors,
who were in Rock Island two weeks ago,
have reached Muscatine. The journal
OF last evening remarks:
c.. S Carpenter, director of the Santa
Fe surveying party, engaged in surveying
line from Aledo TO Muscatine, arrived
in our city this morning, accompanied by
"a corps of twelve assistants. The party
is registered at the Hotel Webster The
survey has been made TO point
on Copperas creek some seven miles
from the city, and the present visit
to town is made under stress of
weather, the rain compelling a
temporary suspension of work II is
expected that the party will remain
in the city the rest of the week. Captain
Carpenters work includes sounding Of
the river, which of course does not nee
essarily imply the building of a bridge,
though it looks like taking a very practi>
cal view of such an enterprise. The sur
vey will be completed in three or four
days of fair weather.
The journal learns incidentally that the
Santa Fe air line from Kansas City to
Chicago will be eighty miles shorter than
the Rock Island route, and that travellers
from Muscatine would find the Santa Fe
The shorter line, in going to either Chicago
or Kansas City, with the road built from
this city to the main line AS proposed
This would give Muscatine the best of
competing lines to the east and southeast.
A Boston dispatch has the following
of the great roadsfuture extensions:
The annual report of the Atchison.
Topeka & Santa Fe rairoad, which
will be ready for the stockholders tomor-
row, will be an unusually interesting
document, containing much valuable
information relative to proposed cxten-
sions of the system. A valuable feature
will be an elaborate map, which shows
that the railway public has been wrong
in regard TO some Atchison extensions.
The Chicago, Santa Fe Il California eX-
tension, as laid out on this map. runs al
most in an air line from Kansas City to
Fort Madison, point at the junction OF
Inc lnTbt StdttS Oh IOWA., hiSSbuTI anu
illinois. Crossing into Illinois the first
important point tapped is Galeshurg.
Thence it runs nearly due east to Strea>
tor. and from Streator northeast, via
Joliet, TO Chicago. From Slreator a
branch runs southwest to PekIn.
Leaving Chicago and passing back to
Kansas, the AtcbIson has laid out for
Itself extensive new fields of railroad con
struction toward the west and southwest
Leaving Ness, in the central part of Kan
saS. an extension is to be built across the
prairies of western Kansas and eastern
Colorado for from 800 to 400 miles to
Colorado Springs, This line parallels for
some distance with the Kansas division
of the Union Pacific. running between
that road and the maiu line of the Atchi-
son Il Pueblo.
That railroad committee had better be
getting off to Chicago. 1t would not be
inducivc TO Rock Islands happiness to
have the road skip across the river at
Muscatine anc traverse the Iowa side
north to st, Paul The road is inclined
to pass through Rock Island, coming up
the river and laying out Il spur to Musca-
tine Rock Island should not be over
however, and thereby risk
tossing The new road entirely.